Hen acting different since sitting and hatching eggs

[Hopeful homesteader]

Today 1 of my broodies brought her chicks out of the nest for the first time while I was in there, instead of jumping to the floor and calling her babies like the others did, she kept leaning out and tapping my arm with her beak so I turned to face her and she climbed in my lap and started rubbing her beak on my legs. None of my chicken have ever climbed in my lap before and when she was done rubbing her beak on me she perched on my legs for a few minutes pecking at some specks on my sweater, looked around the coop, went back on her nest and then called her babies out. Through her brooding she never pecked me when I reached under her to candle her eggs and she lets me handle her babies without any protest. One of her eggs got crushed by another hen trying to lay an egg a week before hatching so I've gone out every day and sat with her to block the layers from jumping in her nest. I'm assuming this behavior change is because she's developed more trust with me or if this is maybe how chickens show affection?

 

[Feather queen]

She sounds like an amazing chicken, congratulations on the chicks, what breed is she and I'm not too sure about why she has changed but welcome it proves she has trusted you

 

[RubelliteRose]

Today 1 of my broodies brought her chicks out of the nest for the first time while I was in there, instead of jumping to the floor and calling her babies like the others did, she kept leaning out and tapping my arm with her beak so I turned to face her and she climbed in my lap and started rubbing her beak on my legs. None of my chicken have ever climbed in my lap before and when she was done rubbing her beak on me she perched on my legs for a few minutes pecking at some specks on my sweater, looked around the coop, went back on her nest and then called her babies out. Through her brooding she never pecked me when I reached under her to candle her eggs and she lets me handle her babies without any protest. One of her eggs got crushed by another hen trying to lay an egg a week before hatching so I've gone out every day and sat with her to block the layers from jumping in her nest. I'm assuming this behavior change is because she's developed more trust with me or if this is maybe how chickens show affection?

How wonderful (assuming you want a lap chicken ) I think it is a combination of trust and affection. Our friendliest girls will often tap us with their beaks when they want to be held. Once they have our attention, they will hop on up to our lap. They are also the ones most likely to rub their beaks on us too. It will be interesting to see if her babies become lap chickens too.

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

She sounds like an amazing chicken, congratulations on the chicks, what breed is she and I'm not too sure about why she has changed but welcome it proves she has trusted you

She is a Speckled Sussex.

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

How wonderful (assuming you want a lap chicken ) I think it is a combination of trust and affection. Our friendliest girls will often tap us with their beaks when they want to be held. Once they have our attention, they will hop on up to our lap. They are also the ones most likely to rub their beaks on us too. It will be interesting to see if her babies become lap chickens too.

I wouldn't mind a lap chicken, I just thought after this long none of them would want to be on me like that.

 

[Feather queen]

She is a Speckled Sussex.

thank you, they sound like a lovely breed

 

[cluckcluckhens]

I wasn't going to post. That is really great she does this.

I'll tell you what happened here with our Australorp lady. Yes, she has pecked me a few times and I do wear gloves.
She is letting me pull her out of the laying box and holding her. Ours started about a week or two before Easter. I searched for our problem and did not find anything but, I think ours is brooding. She spends all day in the laying box until I remove her right before they all go in. She eats and drinks and then she goes back in right before the rest do.

She is only laying on one egg. The other eggs are in the other laying box.
Question is, is she brooding and just wants to hatch her own egg. I'm assuming it's hers. I take it from her. Next day she has a egg under her again and again. The cycle continues.

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

I wasn't going to post. That is really great she does this.

I'll tell you what happened here with our Australorp lady. Yes, she has pecked me a few times and I do wear gloves.
She is letting me pull her out of the laying box and holding her. Ours started about a week or two before Easter. I searched for our problem and did not find anything but, I think ours is brooding. She spends all day in the laying box until I remove her right before they all go in. She eats and drinks and then she goes back in right before the rest do.

She is only laying on one egg. The other eggs are in the other laying box.
Question is, is she brooding and just wants to hatch her own egg. I'm assuming it's hers. I take it from her. Next day she has a egg under her again and again. The cycle continues.

It sounds like she's broody. I'm not sure if it's her egg under her or not, mine stopped laying when they started sitting in the nest boxes all day so after this long I would bet your hen hasn't laid in a while. I marked all the eggs I left out for the hens to sit on because others did hop up and lay eggs next to them and I'd have to check daily and remove new eggs.
Do you have a rooster? Do you want her to hatch chicks? Idk how long they can stay broody for but if you aren't going to give her fertilized eggs to sit on, you should break her brooding to avoid health problems for her. If you have a rooster in your flock you can let her sit on up to 8-10 eggs, if you don't have a rooster you would need to buy fertilized eggs but I don't know where because I have a rooster. Hens don't really care whose eggs they sit on and some hens will even hatch out quail or ducks eggs so I would say she doesn't want to hatch her own egg but she just wants to hatch some eggs. I started with 13 eggs split between 3 hens, 1 egg was never fertilized, 1 egg stopped developing very early, and 1 egg was crushed by another hen trying to get in to lay an egg and the remaining 10 eggs hatched successfully. I didn't give more than 6 eggs to any 1 hen because it's their first time and I feel like it would be easier for the hen to start with less and I took their size into consideration, the biggest hen I gave 6 and the smallest I gave only 3 because any eggs she can't cover may not incubate properly and die early in the egg. If you don't want to hatch any eggs you could try buying a few day old chicks and sneak them under her at night and see if she will raise them that way. If you don't want chicks at all and need to stop her brooding, you can put her in a dog kennel or a cage with open sides and open bottom for more air flow or placing ice packs under her to cool her down. I'm not sure how exactly this works but bringing down their body temperature can end their brooding. Leaving a brooding hen for too long is not good for them and they can get malnourished from not eating as often and reduced activity. I would encourage you to decide now if you're going to allow her to hatch eggs or stop it altogether but I wouldn't want her sitting past mid/end of June to avoid health problems.